-Rin's Distant Cousin-
Authors Note: This is a story just to have fun and okay with, you see, my name is Kazuki Matsuoka and I didn't know about Free! yet even! So I was really surprised to have the same last name so I thought of having a fiddle with this. Btw, I happen to live in Australia too! And there is a club called the Werribee Sharks, they have always been my enemies since I was a kid even though I have never beat one member. Funny right?
I hope you enjoy the story!
Rin Matsuoka had packed up after practice at the pool, his couch had gone home and it was night. He looked out the bright windows that the setting sun was shining on, it was dead quiet as usual at this hour and Rin liked to look at the outstanding view of the ocean far out into the distance. The breeze calmed him.
Then he heard footsteps come in. It was strange for someone to be wandering in here at this hour, he turned around to find out who it was, by that time, the figure he saw for a split second had jumped into the pool.
Wha- ... Who is that? I haven't seen him around before...
The figure suddenly popped up after diving, he took of his goggles and tipped the water out of them, then he put them back on and started to do a lap of freestyle.
He...he got water in his goggles... So he's a freestyle guy huh?...
Then when he made a roll at the end of the lane to reverse, he wobbled and got out to breathe for air. He looked like he was having a heart attack.
"Gah! Geez..." He complained and Rin silently watched.
...He's obviously not from here...and more than that, he's not fit at all!
"Oy!" Rin called out to him, "I have never seen you before, are you a first year at this university?" He asked.
But he didn't respond, he didn't even look at Rin and he simply continued on training.
"Eh-"
He didn't even look at me! What the heck is he doing?! Is he deaf or something?
"Oy!" He called out to him again, but still no response, he didn't stop to respond to Rin. It started to bug him a bit. "Oy! Can't you hear me?!" He yelled.
Then he stopped swimming. Finally. The person got up and looked at him.
"Geez, I thought you were deaf or something, didn't you hear me?" Rin asked.
Then the boy pointed at his ears.
So he is deaf...
"Now... How am I supposed to talk to you anyways?" He said and the boy spoke, "I'm sorry that I can't communicate to you with speech. Can you excuse me for a moment?"
He talks fine but kind of loudly...
The boy got out of the pool and grabbed his towel, he took of his cap and goggles to dry his hair and then put them down. Next, he opened his bag and pulled out a strange little thing and put it on his ear, he pressed a button and he popped.
"That's better, I can hear you now sir. Sorry about that, you were saying?" He said.
This kid...
"Who are you anyways?" Rin asked him, "Me?" His voice was normal now, "I'm a third year in the animation course at this university. I decided to come here every now and then"
An animation guy huh?
"You practice? Ever swam before?"
"Yes, I did back in high school. I used to attend competitions, I reached nationals before"
"YOU REACHED NATIONALS?!" Rin screamed.
This unfit guy?!
"Wow, you have guts. I have too, only once..."
"Yeah, but I just do it for fun, it's really nice to be in the water and just to be able to swim" He smiled at him.
He reminds me of Haru...but he's a lot more cheerful than him...
"What about your timing?"
"Timing? I'm not sure, I don't pay much attention to it"
Rin half heartily laughs to himself. "What?" The boy notices. "You remind me of someone, but he's more straight faced and I don't know what he is thinking"
"Oh? Who?"
"Haruka Nanase"
"HIM?! DO I?"
"Yup, you know him?"
"I have seen him on TV before...he was so fast. Hold on, you know him?"
"Yup! He's my rival and we went to elementary school together!"
"You two must be really good buddies huh?"
"You could say that..." Rin scratched his cheek, "Ah, I haven't asked for your name"
"I'm Kazuki, Matsuoka" He introduced himself and Rin froze, "I'm Rin...Rin Matsuoka"
They stared at each other half freaked out, then Kazuki reacted first. WHAAAAAAAATTTTTTT?!"
He freaked out like a madman and Rin snickered at his reaction, "Calm down!"
"But how?! How are we related?!" Kazuki asked. "There must be a lot of Matsuoka's out there" Rin jumped to a conclusion. "Oh! Yeah!" Kazuki agreed and then there was some awkward silence.
"We might be distant cousins!" Kazuki said.
Huh?!
"How lucky! Cause I do have pinkish reddish hair, I'm half Australia and Japanese of course, maybe we could just be distant cousins!"
Maybe...
"Yeah... Anyways, your swimming, what are you doing?"
"Oh? One, I don't know why my goggles slip off when I dive in, no matter how many times I try to perfect my dive... And when I make a turn, my heart freaks out and it feels like I'm having a panick attack..."
He's got a touch of Rei and Makoto...what a strange guy...
"Let me take a look at those goggles" He said and Kazuki handed them to him. "Here"
Rin takes a look at them, "Thye look kinda old... Did they always slip off?"
"Yes. Sometimes. Well, I bought them because all of my other goggles slip off in the first place"
How off...
"Here, try mine" He gets out his goggles from his pocket and lends them to him. "Thanks! I'll try them out" He takes them and puts them on, "Oh?"
"What? Do they need adjusting?"
"No, They fit...and they cover my eyes really well..."
What in the world...? They fit?
"I'll try them out now!" Kazuki takes off his mysterious little machine on his ear, puts it on his bag and then goes to the diving stand and then gets ready.
His stance seems to be quite strong...
Then Kazuki dives in. His form happens to be really good, not bad... I don't get why his own goggles would slip off...
Then he came back up with his goggles working just fine. He came back out and went over to Rin, "Maybe I guess I need new goggles. Mind helping me look for proper ones some time?"
Hm... This guy... He isn't so bad.
"Sure" Rin nodded.